Rolinda Stotts, Roger Hayden Johnson and Anna Elise Johnson visit Raitman Art Galleries July 03 2026, 0 Comments

Rolinda Stotts, Roger Hayden Johnson and Anna Elise Johnson visit Raitman Art Galleries

By Kimberly Nicoletti

In celebration of the inaugural Breckenridge Wildflower Week July 2-12, Rolinda Stotts visits Raitman Art Galleries’ south Breckenridge location this weekend. The Vail gallery also hosts a father-daughter show with Roger Hayden Johnson and Anna Elise Johnson July 3-4.

Rolinda Stotts talks about wildflower pollinators at 10 a.m. July 3 and remains at the Breckenridge south gallery for a meet-and-greet July 3-4. 

In fact, it has become a tradition for her to visit on Fourth of July, as both her paintings and personality burst with energy, much like traditional fireworks. The gallery highlights her new paintings, which emphasize wildflowers and, often, sunsets, through July 20.

“I love the balance the wildflowers give — they give us this beautiful color to the foreground, too,” said co-owner Brian Raitman.

Rolinda Stotts’ technique, which she terms bella rotta, Italian for “beautifully imperfect,” involves fracturing her handcrafted canvas before applying custom oil paints. As a result, her timeless artwork combines a feeling of both tradition and innovation.

“Her process gives the painting a fractured appearance that has this earthy and imperfect element to it that speaks so well to what we see in the natural world,” Brian says.

Earthy imperfection is especially pertinent right now as we experience nature’s beauty in the height of wildflowers blooming, while, at the same time, wildfires threaten Western forests.

Rolinda Stotts tops one of her latest paintings, “Red Hots Best,” with a fiery red transitioning into oranges and yellow, punctured by mountaintops, which remain grounded in deep mountain greenery and dazzling red wildflowers below.

Red Hots Best by Rolinda Stotts

Her paintings reflect her own personality: lovely, curious, balanced, grounded, warm, colorful and unafraid to show vulnerability, emotion and a sense of history — including the aging process.  

“The canvas is fragile and will disintegrate, or fall apart, if not cared for and put into a wood box, or platform. I like to remind people that we (and, also, nature) are the canvas; when we’re in unsafe places, we fall apart, but when we have the backup and love and support of friends and family and community, we are beautiful because we can survive and thrive,” she said, adding, “I work really hard to get into a Zen state of peacefulness, because I feel I have an obligation to gift that to the world.”

Meanwhile, Roger Hayden Johnson and his daughter Anna Elise Johnson appear at the Vail gallery July 3-4, along with wife and mother (respectively) Mary Johnson.

The family visit aligns with how family has always played a prominent role in Raitman Art Galleries, from the family-owned and operated galleries to how the Raitman’s embrace the artists they represent as family.

“They’re a hoot. Their family is just a lot of fun,” Brian said. “Mary works for the Library of Congress … they’re really interesting people to talk to about literally everything — their travels to Europe all the way to politics. It’s just great conversation. Laughter fills the gallery, and it feels like you’re part of their family when they’re all there.”

Roger Hayden Johnson taught his daughter, Anna Elise Johnson, to think creatively and push how she recreates desert or watery landscapes between her Los Angeles home and her parent’s home in Colorado Springs. Watching him paint during sunrises and sunsets honed her attention to light, color, contrast and detail.

“Having a show with him is so special — to be able to highlight that relationship and all that I’ve learned from him aesthetically and philosophically,” Anna Elise Johnson said.

While Roger Hayden Johnson portrays wooden boats, which reveal how humans toil to maintain them as the skiffs placidly float on waters illuminated by alpenglow or the moon, Anna Elise portrays geology’s “deep time.” The modern shapes she places upon the reflections of water or desert landscapes lend a contemporary feel. The overlayed shapes emerge from screenshots she takes of scenes from favorite movies; they represent how we view and interpret our surroundings, including nature, through our individual lens of experience.

“What I try to get is an active interplay between both where your eye moves back and forth (within) the depth of geological time and, then, the surface,” she said. “It’s a good throughline between natural forces and how we relate to them, how we understand them.”

She hopes to inspire a sense of awe, just as her father’s paintings generate a sense of wonder.

At Magic Hour by Anna Elise Johnson

Roger Hayden Johnson and his wife spend a total of three months a year in Europe, visiting harbors and studying how people fish, from mooring their wooden skiffs to mending nets. Over the years, his depictions of boats have become more complex, highlighting information about, for instance, the oar locks or how the wood comes together or the seats are arranged. He simplifies distractions and focuses on the boat itself.

“I find that people like learning about the actual boat, although it’s a very simple object. It’s a very peaceful subject,” he said.

Working Skiffs by Rogen Hayden Johnson

Through two generations of artistry, which usher in a diversity of lifestyle and experiences, the Johnson’s share a mission to inspire joy, peace and a new perspective on elements people don’t necessarily take the time to deeply contemplate — whether that’s boats or landscapes. Both present a contemporary take, with Anna Elisa Johnson’s paintings being more abstract.

“They both have such a unique attention to form,” Brian says. “Roger’s treatment of light, color and details are exquisite, and they’re so clean (with his attention to negative space). Anna Elise’s paintings are based in process and concept by infusing landscape painting with contemporary forms. She explores how art interacts with both culture and nature. Her art expresses our place in the world, how today’s landscapes are seen and remembered.”

Both also mix paint in a similar way, which feels fresh and bright without overdoing color.

All three artists visiting Raitman Art Galleries this weekend do what great art does best: Evoke emotion. The chance to get to know them is just a bonus.